SAG Board Delays Initiation Fee Increase

The Screen Actors Guild National Board of Directors met Saturday at a previously scheduled videoconference plenary in Los Angeles and New York. Among its decisions, it voted 70.49% to 29.51% to postpone the automatic increase of the initiation fee for 2009. According to the SAG news release issued later:

“The move provides an economic incentive to new members across the country by approving a one-year remission in the standard increase to the new join fee. ‘The automatic increase in initiation fees would have made the cost of joining SAG more difficult for actors across the country, particularly in this difficult economic period. This action recognizes the stark reality facing professional actors and helps to keep the possibility of membership within reach of those who wish to join,’ said SAG Interim National Executive Director David White. The Guild’s initiation fee increases are determined as a multiple of the principal day rate as determined by the Guild’s collective bargaining agreement.”